Free Software and Open Source in Africa

Introduction

Organised by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with the support of Article 19, the Addis Workshop on ICT Policy and Civil Society sparked the formation of a network of ICT policy mobilizers dedicated to building an inclusive information society in Africa.

The workshop took place November 6-8, 2002, at the UN ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Over 80 representatives from non-governmental organizations, human rights organisations, media groups, women's organisations, development groups and researchers from 24 countries throughout Africa gathered to discuss the role of African civil society in ICT policy-making and to outline a plan of action to move forward in mobilizing other organisations on these issues.

Addis Workshop Statement:
http://africa.rights.apc.org/workshop_dec_eng.shtml [English]
http://africa.rights.apc.org/workshop_dec_fr.shtml [French]

Addis Workshop Action Plan:
http://africa.rights.apc.org/workshop_Actionplan.shtml

APC Africa Internet Rights Policy Monitor
http://africa.rights.apc.org

Open Source Task Force for Africa (OSTA)

During the Addis Workshop, the need for developing a framework for Open Source Software solutions emerged strongly. Consequently, the working group on Information Security, Applications Development (Open Source) unanimously resolved to create itself into an interim civil society task force on open source to be called 'Open Source Task Force for Africa - OSTA'.

The overall goal of the taskforce was to bring together individuals and organizations working on open source in Africa and consequently seek mandate to establish the 'Open Source Foundation for Africa' during the WSIS PrepCom meeting in February 2003. The interim taskforce is made up of the following members:

Mr. Lawase Akpolou - SchoolNet Africa - South Africa
Mr. Milton Aineruhanga - WOUGNET - Uganda
Mr. Tunji Lardner - WangoNet - Nigeria
Mr. Joris Komen - SchoolNet - Namibia
Mr. Gideon Hayford Chonia - University of Zurich - Switzerland
Mr. Adebayo Oyewole - ICT Consultant - USA
Ms. Idile Osman Ahmed - ONG - Djibouti
Ms. Abigail Thompson - Ghana
Dr. Ousmane Ly - Keneya Blown - Mali
Mr. Bildad Kagai - Circuits and Packets Consulting - Kenya

The mandate of the interim taskforce was to put in place mechanisms and activities that will lead to:

Advocacy for the use and implementation of open source solutions at the regional, national and local level
Advocacy to donor governments that have already embraced open source at national levels (such as Germany, Sweden, Norway and France)
Creation of a clearinghouse or knowledge factory resources, database of local expertise, website, CD-ROM, brochures etc.
Definition of minimum standards, guidelines and advisory parameters for the foundation
Building localized/africanized capacity to work on software development
Ensure a discourse on open source during the NICI processes and addendum for the NICI processes that have already been completed.

Launch of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) was launched on 21st February 2003 in Geneva during the WSIS PrepCom2 meeting. The attendance was excellent with representatives of government delegations, international organizations and the media. During the PrepCom, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa Government delegations were particularly instrumental in pushing the Open Source agenda for inclusion of the WSIS Declaration and Plan of Action. The Foundation will now begin its work by focusing on three thematic areas:

Open Source in Government
Open Source in Health
Open Source in Education

Visit the FOSSFA website at http://www.fossfa.net

FOSSFA Proposed Action Plan 2003-2005
The FOSSFA secretariat has been working on the structure and action plan for the FOSSFA, and invites comments to the proposed Action Plan 2003-2005. Click here to download a copy of the document (RTF format). In June 2003, FOSSFA released an updated version of the action below (see below).

Update, June 2003: FOSSFA Action Plan: FOSSFA in conjunction with APC (Association for Progressive Communications) has completed the proposed Action Plan and a brief state of OSS in Africa. Click here to download a copy of the document (zipped RTF format).

Call to join the knowledge database on Free Software and Open Source in Africa

FOSSFA is calling for individuals and organizations working or interested in Free Software and Open Source to submit their contact details so that a knowledge database can be developed. Click here for more information and to contribute to the FOSSFA database, a repository of information about people, projects and organizations working on Free and Open Source Software in Africa.

Open Source Initiatives in Uganda

Open Source Initiatives is a listing of free software and open source software initiatives in Uganda.

Contact

For additional information, send email to opensource@wougnet.org.

Last update: April-20, 2004